Windows Vista SP2 - What's Inside? What's Important?

Published 02 December 08 02:15 PM | Celine Allee 
With today's launch of the Customer Preview Program (CPP) for Windows Vista® Service Pack 2 (SP2), we wanted to provide a brief synopsis of the elements in this service pack, and encourage you to download and test this release. Windows Vista SP2 is a traditional service pack release with all cumulative released security updates available since the SP1 release in March 2008. In addition, Windows Vista SP2 includes support for new types of hardware and emerging standards that will grow in importance in coming months, along with fixes discovered via automated error reporting as part of our Customer Experience Improvement program.

What makes the Windows Vista SP2 release unique is that it represents a single service pack which applies to both client (Windows Vista SP1) and server (Windows Server 2008) operating systems—since the code base for Windows Vista is shared with that for Windows Server® 2008, a single update can be deployed across your infrastructure. This service model also provides the ability to detect an incompatible driver and block service pack installation, or warn users of any loss of functionality during installation. Other highlights for IT pros include:

Emerging Hardware Support
  • Bluetooth 2.1 feature pack
  • Ability to record data on Blu-ray media
  • exFAT file system now supports UTC timestamps, which enables correct file synchronization across time zones
  • Support for the new VIA 64-bit CPU
  • Support for ICCD/CCID smart cards
Hyper-V *
  • Windows Vista SP2 includes Hyper-V™ technology, enabling full virtualization of server workloads
*To clarify, Hyper-V is not included in Windows Vista SP2, it is part of the Windows Server 2008 service pack. This means that when you install SP2 for Windows Server 2008, or if you install a slipstreamed version of Windows Server 2008 with SP2, the RTM version of the Hyper-V role will be included. Hyper-V was released after Windows Server 2008, which means that the role you currently install is a pre-release role and needs to be updated to bring it up to RTM. This update will be applied (only if necessary) automatically when you install SP2.

Security
  • Windows Vista SP2 incorporates previously released reliability updates, as well as addressing crashes discovered since the launch of Windows Vista SP1
Performance
  • Inclusion of Windows Search 4 for improved indexing performance, improved relevancy in search, broader indexing scenario inclusion, as well as new Group Policy integration for Windows Search
  • Reduction of resources required for sidebar gadgets
Wireless
  • Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless
  • Fixed issue where Wi-Fi connection was no longer available after resume from sleep
Administration and Support Improvements
  • Service pack clean-up tool: Restores hard disk space by permanently deleting the previous versions of the files (Windows Vista RTM and Windows Vista SP1) that are being serviced by Windows Vista SP2
We encourage you to download this service pack and test it on your lab machines. You should find that most if not all of your applications continue to function properly with this release. Also, we should point out that either Windows Vista SP1 or Windows Server 2008 is a prerequisite for installing this service pack.

Additional information on Windows Vista SP2 can be found in the Notable Changes in Windows Server 2008 SP2 Beta and Windows Vista SP2 Beta document. For more information on deploying and managing Windows Vista and related service packs, bookmark this blog and the Windows Client TechCenter at www.microsoft.com/springboard.

Comments

# Blog Team TechNet Italia said on December 2, 2008 5:50 PM:

Vi volevo annunciare la disponibilità della Beta della Service Pack 2 di Windows Vista e Windows Server

# Weblogul lui Zoli said on December 3, 2008 3:32 AM:

Am publicat SP2 pentru Windows Vista și pentru Windows Server 2008. Dintre noutăți amintesc doar Hyper-V

# Security Blog di Feliciano Intini said on December 3, 2008 4:41 AM:

Doverosa ripresa dell' annuncio dal blog di Windows Vista dell'imminente lancio del Customer Review Program

# Shawn Cicoria said on December 3, 2008 7:33 AM:

Need to wait for SP2... http://blogs.technet.com/springboard/archive/2008/12/02/windows-vista-sp2-what-s-inside-what-s-important.aspx

# Shawn Cicoria - CedarLogic said on December 3, 2008 7:34 AM:

Need to wait for SP2... http://blogs.technet.com/springboard/archive/2008/12/02/windows-vista-sp2-what-s-inside-what-s-important.aspx

# TechNet Blog CZ/SK said on December 3, 2008 8:20 AM:

Včera večer vyšel Windows Vista SP2 v rámci Customer Preview Programu. V danou chvíli je dostupný pouze

# Gisabun said on December 3, 2008 8:30 AM:

Is it a truly "traditional service pack release" when in the good old days a service pack included all updates since the RTM and not from the last service pack?

# Stephen L Rose said on December 3, 2008 12:41 PM:

Gisabun- Yes this is a traditional service pack. You must have SP 1 installed before installing SP 2. It's not a roll-up.

# Learning Remix, Fall 2008 said on December 3, 2008 5:59 PM:

Starting tomorrow the Service Pack 2 is available for the public. The most changes are already available due to the automatic update function. The new changes are especially hardwaresupport for new devices and improvment with the hibernate function...

# 꼬알라의 하얀집... said on December 4, 2008 9:45 AM:

Windows Server 2008과 Windows Vista의 서비스팩 2의 베타 버전이 공개되었습니다. Windows Server 2008의 경우, 출시 후 아직 한번도 서비스팩이

# The things that are better left unspoken said on December 5, 2008 1:59 PM:

Mike Nash and Justin Graham announced the Customer Preview Program for Service Pack 2 Beta for Windows

# Mirrored Blogs said on December 7, 2008 5:02 PM:

Customer Preview Program (CPP) availability for Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista

# Microsoft NZ TechNet Blog said on December 8, 2008 2:52 PM:

The Customer Preview Programme (CPP) for Windows Vista® Service Pack 2 (SP2) was launched last week.

# Mirrored Blogs said on December 12, 2008 5:57 PM:

...but you can’t actually access it: “Hyper-V * “Windows Vista SP2 includes Hyper-V™ technology, enabling

# tower defense said on April 14, 2009 3:12 AM:

Is it a truly traditional service pack release when in the good old days a service pack included all updates since the RTM and not from the last service pack???

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